Table 31 shows the extent to which selected sec-tor and cooperating partner policies and strate-gies have attempted to mainstream disaster risk reduction in Mozambique.
Table 31 reveals the following:
• Consistency with global, regional, subre-gional and national policy frameworks: Of the sector policies assessed, most of the documents refer to global, regional, sub-regional and national policy frameworks.
The 2012 Climate Change Strategy is
more explicit on the integration of disas-ter risk reduction and climate into a single framework.
• The extent to which documents integrate disaster risk reduction: The scores range from 3 to 5, suggesting that Mozambique has made significant progress in main-streaming disaster risk reduction into sec-tor policies, particularly through PARP, cli-mate change strategy, NAPA and UNDAF.
• Availability of resources: With the excep-tion of the PARP, UNDAF and the Climate Change Strategy, the plans and strategies are not clear on the budgets allocated to disaster risk reduction activities.
Table 31: Sector and cooperating partner policies in Mozambique
Question
Other national, sector or agency policies, plans or strategies
PARP 2011-2014 Environmental Law1997 Climate Change Strategy 2012 Agriculture PEDSA 2010 NAPA 2007 Water Policy 2007 UNDAF 2012-15
The policy at least refers to disaster risk management legislation, the Hyogo Framework, the Africa Region and
SADC disaster risk reduction strategies 4 3 5 3 4 3 4
The policy explicitly incorporates disaster risk reduction aspects such as hazard, vulnerability and capacity assessments; disaster education; disaster prevention;
climate change adaptation; risk-informed land-use planning; preparedness; response; and recovery.
5 3 5 3 5 3 5
Resources are identified for achieving identified tasks 5 3 4 3 3 3 5
Total 15 14 9 14 9 12 9 14
7. Selected good practices
This chapter presents good practices, success fac-tors and lessons learned in mainstreaming disas-ter risk reduction and climate change adaptation measures in SADC. It should be noted that, as most of the disaster risk reduction mainstream-ing activities are implemented by United Nations agencies and civil society organizations, the ex-emplars of good practice described in this report have mainly been derived from their work.
7.1 Disaster risk reduction mainstreaming through national policy in Malawi
Summary: National policy is one of the key in-struments for mainstreaming disaster risk re-duction across sectors. The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (MGDS II), which builds on MGDS I (2006-2011), is an overarching medi-um-term strategy for achieving Malawi’s long-term development goals. The objective of MGDS II is to reduce poverty through sustainable eco-nomic growth and infrastructure development.
To this end, it identifies six broad themes: sustain-able economic growth; social development; social support and disaster risk management; infrastruc-ture development; governance; gender; and ca-pacity development. Disaster risk management is viewed as a cross-cutting theme to be integrated into sustainable development planning and pro-gramming at all levels.
The context: Malawi is frequently affected by nat-ural and anthropogenic disasters. Apart from dis-asters that hit traditional disaster-prone areas like
the Shire Valley, acute food shortage is the worst form of humanitarian crisis in Malawi. Lakeshore areas are also prone to severe flooding during years of heavy rains. Hailstorms destroy crops, live-stock, and other infrastructure thereby reducing productivity and removing sources of livelihood.
The MGDS II mainstreams prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery into sectors using disaster risk management tools.
Methodology and tools: The sector-wide ap-proach, the annual national budget, and monitor-ing and evaluation are the main tools supportmonitor-ing implementation of the MGDS. The sector-wide approach means that all significant funding for the sector supports a single sector policy and ex-penditure programme under Government leader-ship. The other main tool for MGDS implementa-tion is the annual naimplementa-tional budget, through the medium-term expenditure framework, including the Public Sector Investment Programme. The monitoring and evaluation master plan devel-oped by the Government with support from do-nors and cooperating partners is the main tool for assessing the performance of various policy strat-egies within the framework of MGDS II.
Good practice: Explicitly integrating disaster risk management into the national develop-ment strategy is good practice. As a result, most sector policies and strategies in Malawi – for ex-ample, health, social protection, water and agri-culture – are underpinned by disaster risk man-agement tools such as environmental impact assessment and hazard, vulnerability and capacity assessments.
Lessons learned: The main lessons learned from implementation of MGDS I are: successful imple-mentation of any national development strat-egy requires commitment from all stakeholders; a strong indicator framework is critical for measur-ing progress towards defined goals, targets and outcomes; availability of data is crucial for moni-toring the progress of MGDS implementation and alignment of the national budget and sector strat-egies to the national development strategy.
Potential for replication: This practice has po-tential for replication across the subregion, tak-ing into account country context. Exchange visits and sharing lessons learned could be one way of publicizing the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy.
7.2 Institutionalization of risk management, pro-GRC/German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Mozambique
35Summary: Integrated disaster risk management in municipal development is part of Programa para o Desenvolvimento Rural (programme for ru-ral development), which emphasizes the promo-tion of district development plans. In 2007, GTZ re-fined its programmes to include integrated disas-ter risk management. The objective of the project was to provide organizational and technical sup-port to communities, districts and governments, particularly the National Institute of Disaster Management of Mozambique (INGC), for the im-plementation of disaster risk management meas-ures in priority areas threatened by hurricanes, floods and droughts. A further objective was to identify arid and semi-arid areas prone to drought
35 Adapted from UNDP and ECHO (2010). Prepared under the aus-pices of the United Nations Development Programme UNDP) and the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) through the Disaster Preparedness Programme (DIPECHO) Regional Initiative in Disaster Risk Reduction, March, 2010, Maputo – Mozambique, pp. 110-113.
and bush fires and, jointly with local authorities, to identify relevant mechanisms for adaptation to cli-mate change and management of water resourc-es. The programmes focused on national emer-gency operation centre and the regions covered included Southern Region - Inhassoro, Vilankulo, and Govuro districts, Inhambane Province and Machanga district, Sofala Province; Central Region (Búzi, Chibabava in Sofala Province, and Mossurize, Sussundenga (Administrative Post of Dombe) and Manica, Manica Province; Central and Southern regions – Massange in Gaza Province, Mabote, FunhalouroandGovuro in Inhambane Province and Machanga, Sofala Province.
Context: Over the past 50 years, the country has been hit by 68 natural disasters which have killed more than 100,000 people and affected up to 28 million. As much as 25 per cent of the popula-tion is at risk from natural hazards (World Bank, 2010:8). By 2010 Mozambique ranked second among countries most vulnerable to economic losses from natural disasters, just behind Haiti (Maplecroft, 2010). As a result of recurrent disas-ters triggered by natural hazards such as floods, cyclones and drought, poverty levels in 2008 were at levels similar to those in 2003 (Strategic Plan, 2010). In 2013, flooding in the Limpopo basin claimed about 117 lives, displaced 176,000 peo-ple and caused economic damage of about $513 million (INGC, 2013). According to a government announcement on 26 July 2013, the GDP growth for 2013 would be 1 per cent lower than the ex-pected 8.4 per cent as a result of the flooding. The main reason is a lack of technical expertise for preparation of local-level risk management plans and implementation of preventive measures. To address these gaps, the priority components of the project included technical assistance, organi-zational and procedural measures and training (by international experts) on agricultural conservation techniques at regional and local level. Important contributions were made to reducing
vulner-ability, including improving agribusiness, provid-ing technical advice on the implementation of a comprehensive and effective disaster risk preven-tion and disaster risk management methodology, integrating disaster risk management principles in rural development, and capacity-building of INGC structures.
Methodology and tools: The promotion of risk reduction methodologies in district development plans has four components, which are aligned with a number of activities: district development planning with participatory activities at commu-nity level; strengthening local authorities and the civilian population through activities related to risk reduction and identification of relevant haz-ards; adaptation of innovative technologies and sustainable use of natural resources; disaster risk management interventions such as public educa-tion on the impacts of wild fires on food security, and conservation agriculture.
Project outcomes: The main outcomes are:
• Changing behaviour and attitudes in communities;
• Adoption of minimum standards for build-ing hazard-resistant housbuild-ing;
• Reduced forest and wild fires in communi-ties involved in the project;
• Successful integration of disaster risk man-agement methodologies in economic and social plans and district budgets with risk management responsibilities assumed by district authorities; and monitoring and supervision by local staff to ensure that the INGC risk management guidelines are followed.
The promotion of risk reduction methodologies in district development plans consists of the fol-lowing four components, which are aligned with a number of activities:
• District development planning, with par-ticipatory activities at community level;
• Strengthening local authorities and the ci-vilian population, with risk reduction and hazard identification activities;
• Adaptation of innovative technologies and sustainable use of natural resources;
• Disaster risk management interventions such as public education on the impacts of wild fires on food security, and conser-vation agriculture.
Good Practice: The integration of disaster risk management into existing rural development plans is an excellent proven best practice. In the context of this project, the villages at risk along the Búzi River served as the pilot project area, using an integral, multi-sector and decentralized method-ology. It has been proven to work and already led to significant progress in the region. The establish-ment of flood and wildfire early warning systems, the establishment of demonstration areas for test-ing different conservation agriculture techniques, the creation of community networks within local level risk management in various districts at risk, and the development of trained community-based teams to undertake risk management ac-tivities are key elements of the methodology.
Lessons learned: The monitoring mechanisms in place, allow for adjustments to solve problems en-countered in project implementation. However, greater technical follow-up from the project’s su-pervisory body is necessary to further strengthen local capacities. There is a need to utilize local re-sources to avoid dependency on external funding (for example, warning kits using with local materi-als; early warning systems involving local leader-ship; youth working in drama and theatre; games with risk management themes aligned with INGC strategies with simultaneous translation into lo-cal languages). Once a warning has been issued, the community at risk is well organized for rapid
mobilization and further identification of danger-ous zones inside a community. Additionally, the exchange of good practices from the Búzi and Chinde districts has been identified as one mech-anism enhancing coordination.
Potential for replication: This practice has already been replicated. It started as a pilot project using rural development projects. The practices have a long history of integrating disaster risk manage-ment in existing structures, dating back to pro-jects implemented by GTZ and partners in Central America.
7.3 Capacity-building of civil protection committees in disaster risk reduction and climate change in Malawi
Summary: Civil protection committees (CPCs) are mandated by the national disaster management system, which is coordinated by the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, to oversee disas-ter risk management work at district, traditional area and village level. Unfortunately, limited re-sources have made it difficult for district councils to train CPC members so, although many com-mittees have been set up across the country, most have received no training.
Methodology and tools: Training workshops are held to train CPCs in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation work. The training workshops carried out by civil society organiza-tions in partnership with district councils have helped some committees to gain knowledge of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, and the Participatory Assessment of Disaster Risks tool, and also to understand their responsibilities. In order to be more effective, CPC members are involved in assessing training
needs so that training workshops are tailor made.
To ensure sustainability, members at district level are trained as trainers and they train those at tradi-tional area level and also train them to train those at village level. This approach promotes effective knowledge and skills transfer. In most districts – for example, Chikhwawa, Mwanza, Nsanje, Salima, Dedza and Phalombe – where civil society organi-zations have worked with district councils to carry out these training programmes, CPC members have welcomed the approach as it helps them to gain confidence, knowledge and skills to imple-ment disaster risk reduction mainstreaming work in their communities.
Outcomes: The initiative is building confidence in committees and their members feel empowered to mainstream risk reduction into emergency pre-paredness, response and recovery programmes.
One village civil protection committee in Chikhwawa district trained in 2009 by Evangelical Association of Malawi, was called upon by health officials to help distribute free mosquito nets to protect people from malaria infection in their area. The civil protection committee advised the officials not to distribute the nets free of charge but instead to ask households to construct a pit latrine in return, if they did not already have one, before receiving the net. This is one of the areas where people are at risk of health hazards because of poor household hygiene practices and open defecation. Government officials were surprised to note the change of mindset because people in the area were used to receiving handouts. This initiative helped the health sector achieve 85 per cent of households with a toilet from a baseline of 45 per cent. CPC members say that the disas-ter risk reduction and participatory assessment of disaster risk training enabled them to assess their vulnerability and take opportunities to incorpo-rate risk reduction measures whenever they arose.
Good practice: Trained civil protection commit-tees come up with their own community action plans with ideal measures to reduce risks and this is helping to promote ownership of risk reduction.
Studies comparing district councils show that trained committees are engaged in disaster risk reduction mainstreaming across the disaster risk management cycle more than those that have not been trained. This is one effective way to promote disaster risk reduction mainstreaming govern-ance at grassroots level. Multi-sector involvement in the process provides different perceptions of disaster risk reduction mainstreaming. CPCs are comprised of different sectors at district, area and village level. Training CPCs ensures knowledge-able and resourceful bodies within a national dis-aster risk reduction institutional arrangement.
Potential for replication: This approach is easy to replicate as it is not totally reliant on govern-ment, sustainability being ensured by trained CPCs that will continue to initiate risk reduction work beyond an individual project’s lifespan.
7.4 Integrating adolescent girls into community-based disaster risk reduction in Southern Africa
Summary: This project sought to enable CARE and the African Centre for Disaster Studies to adapt the Girls in Risk Reduction Leadership ap-proach for use in other countries in Southern Africa in order to reduce the challenges faced by adolescent girls in disaster and post-disaster situ-ations (and by extension overall community risk of poor outcomes, to which adolescent girls are disproportionately vulnerable) by promoting con-sideration of and participation by adolescent girls and other marginalized groups in community-based disaster risk reduction.
The context: The project was implemented across four partner countries in Southern Africa in six dif-ferent localities, including Tshidixwa (Zimbabwe), Kanyama (Ward 10) (Zambia), Kanyama (Ward 11) (Zambia), Salima (Malawi), Ntcheu (Malawi) and Mphaki (Lesotho). The Zambian localities are sub-ject to severe annual floods and related hazards, including water-borne diseases. Lesotho experi-ences hazards such as heavy snowfall, land slip-page, wind and drought. Malawi identified two localities plagued by flooding and drought that contribute significantly to food insecurity prob-lems; and Zimbabwe also struggles with food in-security as a result of drought-related hazards.
Methodology and tools: The African Centre for Disaster Studies provided technical assistance to the four existing CARE country programmes and partners (academic partners, local NGOs, and government entities). The programme highlight-ed the nehighlight-ed for a girl-centrhighlight-ed approach that en-couraged participatory learning and involvement developed through the instigation of strategic ca-pacity-building sessions targeting areas of signifi-cance to the lives and welfare of adolescent girls in each community. Although the programme sought to engage girls as the primary target, it was understood that the project was also seeking to involve girls in conveying important informa-tion to their families, peers and the community to encourage change. The programme enabled girls and the broader community to understand some of the often overlooked issues that undermine the position of girl children in society and reinforce their vulnerability.